For me, if you take leverage out of REI, you might as well start selling tomatoes and vegetables!.

We assumed it was now vacant due to the vegetation, but on trash day trash was put out and someone is living there! 

Painted the inside, refurbished floors, clean the yard from excess of vegetation What was the outcome?

They didn't clean out their dog's kennel (you can imagine what that looked like) and there were rotting vegetables strewn about all over!

Those 2 factors alone would greatly narrow focus, an area that has both good tillable for vegetable farming AND attraction for venue and STR units. 

Avoid having dense vegetation right against the property, as this can provide hiding places for pests.

Bones of any kind, stringy vegetables, rice and similar products that can expand when soaked, are primary to avoid.

Fencing in the back is completely broken with vegetation destroying most of it.

I’ve got a SFH and it’s got a small front and side yard but the back yard has a chain link fence and is big enough that all of my tenants for the past 3 years have had a vegetable garden and there is plenty of room that if any of them had had children there would be enough space for them to spread out and play.

We renovated the front and back yards to put in a new lawn, irrigation system, vegetation, and privacy fences.